Bonnet: "Israel Should Think Twice Before Waging War"

Al-Manar

"20/02/2008 The former chief of the (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire DST, France's internal security service) and one of the most prominent experts in security and counter-espionage in France Yves Bonnet accused frankly a state's security apparatus of assassinating Islamic Resistance top commander Imad Moghniyeh.

Bonnet was speaking in a special interview in Paris with Al-Manar Television. He once again tackled the political and security concerns in Lebanon, mainly the assassination of Moghniyeh and its repercussions as well as the Lebanese Presidential Elections always postponed. Bonnet saw the "hands of a state's security apparatus in Moghniyeh's assassination due to the high professionalism in its undertaking". He said that the main goal of the crime was to once more raise the concept of confrontation, mainly between Hezbollah and Israel.

"The assassination of the Hezbollah official was a highly technical and very complicated one. It's much harder than any other random bomb attack that could target a popular rally for example," Bonnet said. "Assassinating a specific individual requires studying and intelligence gathering as well as full knowledge of every move the target makes," he added. "It goes without saying that the assassination was indeed a professional job done by a state security apparatus," the French security expert concluded.

Bonnet reminded that there were 25 states possessing "the will as well as the ability to kill Moghniyeh… So we have the right to think of some states being behind the murder." The former chief of the (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire) DST ruled out Syrian hands in the assassination asserting that "Syria won't commit such crime on its soil and that's why Syria, of course, cannot stand behind the crime."
On speculations that Israel could launch a new war against Lebanon, Bonnet assured that after the July 2006 Divine Victory, Israel will think twice before making such move.
"I'm not pessimistic at all. Since the July war and thanks to Hezbollah, Lebanon has proved that it could strongly repulse any Israeli military intervention and for the first time, force it to retreat.
Hezbollah really achieved Divine victory and knew very well how to preserve it and share it with fellow Lebanese citizens. So it became a triumph for the whole of Lebanon. Hence, Israel would think twice before attempting to undertake another adventure of this kind."

On the other hand, Bonnet commented on the current political situation in Lebanon. He said that "obstructing the election of a new Lebanese President will lead to exacerbating the situation in the country at all levels".

He also called for the release the four officers still held in custody over the Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's case stating that the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) failed to press charges against them."